How Does Bobby Afford All That Armani?
by BookWorm37
Summary: It's the question everyone wants answered. The answer may surprise you. COMPLETE Updated on 27. 9. 06! Nothing major, I just switched whose desks she stops at on her way to see Bobby and Deakins.


A/N: Okay, it's the question everyone wants answered: How the hell does Bobby afford all that Armani?

_Updated 27-9-06: I was thinking about this the other day and I realized it didn't work to have Lynne stopping by Carolyn and Mike's desks ... so I changed their characters to other ... random detectives that I just made up._

* * *

"Bobby, hold still before I poke you with this needle!" the woman said as she tried to pin the leg of his pants at the proper length. With a sigh she got up and admired her work, "There. Go change and we can do the last set." 

"Thanks, Mary Lynne. You don't know how great this is for you to do this," Bobby said as he slipped behind the room partition to change out of the pants Lynne was currently fitting to him and into the last pair that needed to be pinned.

She snorted, her dark red hair pulled back in a braid that was coming loose, "Yes I do, Bobby. But making these suits for you is one of the best deals I've ever made. I get a free model and advertising. Not to mention you tell me the little things that are wrong so my boss isn't pissed when I bring in a new design that's not applicable."

"True," Bobby said, returning to the stool she had set up for him to stand on so she could pin the seam of his pants. "I'm certainly not complaining, Lynne. I get to look great at work and not worry that I'm wearing a suit that normally costs five hundred dollars when I go to a crime scene."

Lynne giggled, "Bobby, most of these suits would go for eight or nine hundred without the tailoring. I only made you _one_ five hundred suit and that was when you were in Narcotics and spent most of your time dressed as a junkie."

Bobby smiled, "Yeah. Well, thanks anyway." His cell phone started to ring. "Can you get that for me?"

Lynne leaned over to her sofa and grabbed Bobby's phone. She flipped it open and looked at the caller ID, "It says it's from Eames. Do you need to take it?"

"Yeah," Bobby took the phone from Mary Lynne as she got back to pinning his pants. He answered the phone, "Goren."

"Hi, Bobby, it's Alex. We've got a new case."

"But it's our day off," Bobby whined into the phone. Lynne snorted at that. She knew that normally Bobby didn't care if he got called into work, but he hated being called away from having a new suit tailored to him. He glared down at her before turning his attention back to the phone.

"I know it's our day off, but Deakins said he needs both of us back at the squad as soon as humanly possible."

He groaned, "Fine. Can you come get me? I have to finish something up here and I don't want to be late."

"Sure, where are you?"

As Bobby told his partner where she could find him, Mary Lynne finished pinning the bottom of the pants. She was placing the last pin in place when Bobby moved his leg, causing it to jam right into his ankle.

"OW! Mary Lynne, be careful!" Bobby cried, forgetting for a moment that he had Alex on the phone.

"It's your own fault for moving!" she replied smarmily, adjusting the pin so it was firmly in the material and not going through Bobby's skin.

"Bobby?" Alex asked on the phone, "What are you doing on the Upper Eastside?"

"Umm, getting a new suit tailored. Just flash your badge at the doorman and tell him your looking for Mary Lynne."

"Okay," Bobby could tell that Alex didn't really like having to go there, but she'd do it for Bobby, and he knew it. "See you in a few," she said before hanging up the phone and ending their conversation.

Lynne looked up at him with a mischievous smirk on her face, "So, who was that?"

Bobby rolled his eyes as he moved to go change back into his street clothes, "You know very well that that was my partner from work, Detective Alex Eames."

Mary Lynne gave him an amused look as he walked out from behind the curtain. "What?" he asked, ignoring the look in her eyes as his imagination.

She just shook her head, "How about some food before Alex gets here? I have some fettuccini sauce I made last night if you want pasta?"

Bobby's stomach grumbled, causing Mary Lynne to laugh as he said, "That sounds great. Need any help?"

Lynne shook her head, "Nope, I'm good." She paused for a moment before reconsidering his offer, "On second thought, can you start cleaning up in there? You know where my sewing kit goes, right?"

"Next to the book of the week, on your night stand, isn't it?" Bobby asked, already starting to clean up the pins, needles and other items that were strewn around the floor.

"Got it in one."

Bobby chuckled, "I'm a detective, Lynne, it's what I do."

The pair fell into a comfortable silence as they waited for Alex to arrive before eating their fettuccini alfredo. About fifteen minutes later, there was a buzz on the intercom and Lynne went up to go see who it was.

"Yeah?" she said into the system.

"You have a visitor, Ms. Mary," the doorman said, "A Detective Alex Eames."

"Send her up, Don. She's a friend of Bobby's."

"Yes, Ms. Mary," Don said, motioning for one of his colleagues to take over while he let Alex up to the penthouse. Because it was the _penthouse_, you needed a key to ride the elevator up that far and Ms. Mary Lynne Andrews was one of the nicest people Don had ever worked for, so he rode up the elevator with Alex.

"Who's 'Ms. Mary'?" Alex asked as the elevator doors closed in front of her and the nice, older doorman who was accompanying her to the penthouse.

Don smiled, "Mary Lynne Andrews. She's a real nice lady."

Alex just raised her eyebrows, "Ah." That just explained _everything_. But when she tried probing for more details from the doorman, he refused to say a word, claiming it wasn't his place.

After a few minutes in the elevator, the car finally stopped and the doors opened for Alex to enter the foyer of the penthouse. She could hear Bobby laughing at something someone else had said. Unsure what to do, Alex slowly made her way into the living room, to find a rather beautiful woman in her early thirties sitting on the plush sofa with a glass of white wine in her hand and an inviting smile on her face. She was dressed in a vintage red day-dress from the '40's, with a low neckline that was still modest while being alluring, and a thick black sash that tied around her waist, the ends falling to end of the garment.

"Hi, you must be Alex," she said as she stood up to shake Alex's hand. "I'm Mary Lynne, but pretty much everyone calls me Lynne."

Alex nodded as she shook her hand, unsure what to make of the woman before her while her mind already started to infer things from the way she was smiling, and the way Bobby was laughing as he came into the living room from what she could only guess was the bedroom.

"Hi, Eames," Bobby said, acting oblivious to her discomfort. "Did you eat yet? We were about to sit down to some fettuccini alfredo. Care to join us?"

Alex looked down at her watch, hiding the jealousy she felt swell in her heart as she thought about spending time with Bobby and this woman. Who was this 'Mary Lynne' anyway? There was no way she knew Bobby like Alex did. There was no way she was good enough for Bobby. Who the hell did she think she was to take Bobby away from Alex like that?

"Deakins wanted us in as soon as possible, Goren," Alex said, bypassing his questions about food entirely.

Lynne sensed the jealousy burning under Alex's skin and wondered what the detective thought her relationship with Bobby Goren was all about. Oh, well, Mary Lynne didn't get to have a lot of fun at the expense of Bobby, but playing up _this_ would be fun. "Oh, well, then I guess you two better get going. Don't want to make the Captain mad, now do we? Hmm?"

Alex wanted to glare at Mary Lynne's informality with Bobby, but caught herself in time, keeping her face neutral but cold. "Of course."

Lynne smiled charmingly at Alex before turning to Bobby, "You better get going. I'll drop them off the day after tomorrow. If you're not going to be at your apartment give me a call and I'll drop them by the Plaza."

Bobby frowned slightly, not wanting to inconvenience the wonderful woman that kept him dressed in the latest men's wear fashions, "Are you sure that's not a problem?"

"Not at all. There are a few other people I have to see down that way, anyway. Now go to work. And don't get shot, please." As the detectives walked back toward the elevator, they heard Lynne calling after them, "And for the love of God _try_ not to rip the seam again, Bobby!"

Alex glanced at Bobby as they rode the elevator down to the lobby in silence. The smile on his face was somewhat smug and just served to grate Alex's nerves even more. How _dare_ he do this to her! He was supposed to be just as madly in love with her as she was with him! He wasn't supposed to actually be _seeing_ someone else!

Oh, who was she kidding? If Bobby was happy she'd make an effort to be happy for him. What did it matter that he wasn't happy with her? It mattered to Alex – a _lot_.

All along the car ride to the station, Alex was silently brooding that the feelings she felt for her unconventional partner were not reciprocated. Bobby knew she was in a mood – he had no clue what it was about, but he knew she was brooding and he didn't know what to do to snap her out of it. So he did what most men do in situations like that: nothing.

It wasn't until they were getting off the elevator at One Police Plaza that things finally came to a head.

Alex shot a glare at Bobby as they stepped off the elevator onto the eleventh floor, "And how long, exactly, have you been seeing _her _for?"

Bobby furrowed his brow as he tried to remember the day when Mary Lynne had stopped him in the bullpen and asked if he wanted free Armani suits in exchange for some advice. "Umm, seven years, I think."

Alex's eyes went wide, her mind fluttering with images of women she had been so positive Bobby'd been going out with in the past year and a half, "How often?"

Bobby shrugged, "About two or three times a month, I guess."

"Why? Why would do that?"

"Do what?" It was true that Bobby was a very observant person, but when it came to his beautiful partner he had no clue.

"Keep on seeing her!"

For a split moment Bobby considered telling her the truth that he went so that for a few hours a week he could feel normal. With Lynne his height wasn't an issue, and she enjoyed him pointing out the little things that annoyed him with his suits - not to mention she let him roam around her apartment and scare off bad boyfriends. It made him feel normal. "I see her because our visits result in me looking my best," he finally said, hoping that would satisfy his partner's inquiries.

"How the _hell_ is sleeping with that woman going to make you look better?" Alex hissed, not wanting to call attention to them as they sat down at their desks.

Bobby froze before looking up at Alex like she was crazy, "What?"

Alex rolled her eyes, "Well, I know sex is supposed to make you glow, but _come on_!"

"Why would I be sleeping with my tailor?" Bobby asked, now thoroughly confused as to what the hell Alex was talking about.

Alex felt her cheeks flush crimson as she digested his words. Mary Lynne was his _tailor_? The woman who keep him looking neat and clean in Armani suits that she knew for a _fact_ he couldn't afford on the salary he got … at least, not as many as she'd seen in his closet. Holy shit.

"Goren! Eames! My office, now!" Deakins barked, drawing their attention away from the rather embarrassing conversation they had just had.

* * *

Mary Lynne Andrews smiled amiably to all she passed in her '50's style light blue dress that accented her figure perfectly with a dark red sash at the waist. She was carrying four garment bags in her arms as she strode purposefully into One Police Plaza. 

As she passed through security, she chatted with the guards, inquiring after their families and how their weeks had been, and before she knew it she was on the elevator riding up to the eleventh floor. No one looked up as she walked in, but as soon as the familiar click of her vintage pumps hit the linoleum, heads turned to watch the red-haired beauty make her way across the room.

She stopped with a grin in front of Carolyn Sparre's desk and handed her one of the garment bags, "The latest from Trashy Diva just like you asked for, Carolyn. Tailored just for you and ready for wear."

Carolyn returned Lynne's infectious grin with one of her own, "Thanks, Lynne. I didn't expect you to get this done so soon."

Lynne shrugged, "I had some free time the day before yesterday when Deakins called Bobby in. Tell me if you have any problems with your black Carrie dress – Terry did that one when I was working on fixing that nasty tear Mitch got in his jacket last month." She turned her attention to Carolyn's partner, Mitch Stevens, "Speaking of which: here you are, Mitch. Next time, take the jacket off _before_ you decide to go dumpster diving or get into a knife fight, okay?"

Mitch nodded as he took the garment bag Lynne held out to him. "It wasn't exactly my fault, but I'll try. Hey, when's my next fitting?"

Mary Lynne looked at him patronizingly, "I don't know, Mitch. Did you schedule one with Terry?"

He looked down, like a schoolboy who forgot to do his homework, and shook his head wordlessly. Lynne just rolled her eyes, having expected as much. "I'm free Sunday night, if you want to stop by before you go out clubbing."

"Sounds great," Carolyn said, "If there's any problems with the dress I can come by with this one to get them fixed."

"Wonderful. Now, if you two will excuse me, I have some gifts for Bobby and Jimmy," Lynne said, the grin back in place as she made her way with the two remaining garment bags to Bobby and Alex's conjoined desks.

As Lynne approached, Alex found it increasingly difficult to focus on her paperwork. "Good afternoon, you two."

In Alex's opinion, Mary Lynne was decidedly too perky, and didn't warrant one iota of her attention … not to mention she was still embarrassed that she had misjudged Bobby's relationship with the woman. Bobby, on the other hand, was thrilled that his tailor had shown up with the suits he had been fitted to just two days before. He held out his hand expectantly for the garment bag.

Lynne rolled her eyes, "Here, Bobby. Try not to tear that seam again – that was the third time I had to fix it. What the hell do you keep in that pocket anyway?"

Bobby looked down in chagrin, "My Swiss army knife."

Lynne snorted, "Only you, Bobby. Only you would forget to close a damn knife before putting it in the pocket of a thousand dollar suit."

Bobby raised his eyebrows as he looked at Lynne, "I seem to remember that last time _you_ pointed out that I don't actually _pay_ for the suits."

"Yes, but wouldn't now be a perfect time to cut off your supply?" Bobby looked up in horror at that, causing Lynne to laugh, "Bye, Bobby. Don't forget to be nice to your partner and let her know where that massive brain of yours is going."

Bobby silently glared at the retreating form of his tailor, Mary Lynne Andrews. She opened the door to the Captain's office.

"Jimmy!" Lynne said as she closed the door behind her, hanging up the garment bag on his coat hanger.

"Lynne!" Jimmy Deakins said, getting up from his chair and coming around to hug the woman who was like a sister to almost everyone at One Police Plaza. "Look at you!" he stepped back; taking in the signature vintage dress that Mary Lynne wore. "Still buying everything from that store of yours?"

Lynne grinned, "How else am I supposed to be a Trashy Diva, unless I shop at their store and website? Now, I brought you something," she took the garment bag back from the coat hanger and unzipped it to reveal two outfits within.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jimmy asked, his smile wide and his hands itching to see the outfits in the bag.

Mary Lynne nodded, "Yes, it is. I took the measurements you gave me for your wife and made her a beautiful crimson gown with black accents using that cloth sample you gave me of her favorite color."

"What's the other thing, then?" Jimmy asked, now confused why his anniversary present for his wife was not alone.

Her grin came back, full force, "It's my anniversary present to you. One of my latest suit creations for Armani, complete with tie and shirt." She pulled out an envelope from her purse and handed it to Jimmy, "And this is my anniversary present to both of you."

Jimmy opened the envelope to find two tickets to a play both he and his wife had wanted to see for a while, but was sold out. "This is too much, Lynne."

"No, it's not." Her eyes traveled back out over the bullpen, coming to rest on Alex and Bobby, who were trying their hardest not to watch her conversation with Deakins. "My brother is the lead in the play, and I know you and Angie have been dying to see it." She paused, "Jimmy, I did something that I'm not very proud about."

"What?" Jimmy could feel a rock fall in his stomach at her words, his mind running to the worst possible conclusions.

"I made Detective Eames suspect that Bobby and I are sleeping together."

The rock immediately vanished, to be replaced by laughter that Deakins just couldn't hold inside. "I wonder what Eric would have to say about that! He's rather protective of you, isn't he?"

"Eric's my boyfriend – but he's not protective. He's possessive and jealous of all the men I work with. It's a miracle that he likes you, Mitch and Bobby as much as he does – otherwise I'd have to find new models, and I _hate_ breaking in new models."

"I remember that clearly. Thank you for this, Lynne. Is there anything I can do to feel less like a bum?"

Mary Lynne thought for a moment, only one thing coming to her mind that Jimmy could help her with, "Did you talk with Mr. Carver about the … situation?"

Jimmy glanced at the detectives that had captured Lynne's attention, "Yes, I did. He's looking into it, but as of right now, I can only think of one option if the situation yields fruit, Lynne."

She nodded, accepting that, "I know. You know that they'll never do anything about it if it would jeopardize the surplus of good fruit that come out of the situation already. Send Alex by my penthouse later today, I want to talk to her."

Jimmy eyed the fashion designer warily, wondering what she had planned. "Okay, I'll make sure she stops by after work."

The amiable smile was back on Lynne's face as she nodded once and started walking out the door, "Good. Have fun at the play, Jimmy. And give Angie my best."

As Mary Lynne Andrews walked out of One Police Plaza more than one person wasn't fooled by her act of amiable unawareness – but only one knew what she was planning in that head of hers to make the dreams of two people come true.

* * *

A/N: If you want more of Mary Lynne (past and future from this story) just ask and I'll try to supply! 


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